New Additions...not to be confused with "New Edition" :)

I'm so excited to be learning more and more about blogging layouts. Instead of weighing down my home page, I went ahead and added a new page where I will be adding the week in review.  Please look for it on Fridays.

Also, I have placed my reading expectations in its own tab.

I will be adding additional expectations as I get them up and running.  Please stay tuned. I hope to have them up shortly.

When we do things in class that are exciting and newsworthy, I will continue to share them on my Home tab.

Have a great weekend!! The Arkansas game is on in T-minus 10 minutes, so I guess that's my excuse to stop working for a bit. Wooo Pig, Sooiieee. Go Hogs!

First Day of Fourth Grade - August 25, 2014

Hello everyone! We are having such a great day!!! We've put away supplies, gone to specials, we've helped lost first graders find their way off the playground (Shout out to Michael O. for coming to the rescue!!), we've gone to lunch and will be settling in for our afternoon routine. This has been the smoothest first day, by far, of my career.

I want to thank the wonderful parents who wished me well and spoiled me with little gifts. Your children are wonderful, and they didn't even laugh too hard when the Activeboard wouldn't work, and I couldn't take my attendance right the first time. :)

This week, we will not have traditional homework unless math work is not completed in class.  Students have this week to personalize (the boys prefer this word to "decorate") their many journals we will be using in class.  They can be as creative as they like, but the design may not interfere with the function of the notebook. For example, 3-D creations may be ripped off while students are pulling them out of desks. I have attached some of my journals below for reference.

Meet The Teacher August 22, 2014

Today was wonderful. Thank you all so much for attending Meet The Teacher. It was wonderful to meet such caring parents and such amazing students. I knew that this year was going to be wonderful, and today's meeting only confirmed it.

I would like to extend a warm Happy Birthday to Jack. Perhaps meeting your teacher on your birthday was not what you had in mind, but it was lovely to be able to wish you a Happy Birthday in person.

I hope that everyone has a last wonderful weekend before school starts, and I cannot wait to see each and every one of you on Monday.

Welcome and Meet Your New Teacher

I am so excited to be your child's teacher!! We are going to have a great year, and I look forward to working with your child.

A little about me:

I am the product of a college English professor father and a 44 year veteran of the classroom mother.  Although I didn't start out my career in education, I got here as soon as I could!  

My elementary education began in Aldine ISD at Carmichael Elementary.  Since my mother was a teacher at the middle school I was slated to attend, and all of the teachers there had known me since age 3, we moved to Spring Branch ISD.  I graduated Magna Cum Laude from Northbrook High School in 1996.  I then went to Bryn Mawr College outside Philadelphia, PA where I graduated in 2000 with double majors in History and Russian.

Before finding my place in the education world, I did spend time in the legal and insurance industries, but something was always missing.  As a child I had always loved learning, loved teaching kids how to sail, tutoring students in English, and I realized that I needed to be in a classroom.  So I made the decision to get my Alternative Certification from University of Houston-Downtown, and it has been the best decision I've ever made.  I'm happy to say that after spending time in HISD and Cy-Fair, I’m happy to be back home in Spring Branch as a fourth grade teacher.  

When I am not teaching or thinking about teaching, I enjoy reading, traveling, camping, music, movies, and playing with my daughter Emma.